For this edition of Twig Member News, we are pleased to share a successful operation executed by our Brazilian member Serpa Group. The Group was in charge of importing 19 disassembled Light Rail Vehicles (known as VLT) to Brazil and totally assembling them upon arrival in Santos.

As part of this project, Serpa’s Engineers were responsible for the customs procedures, nationalizing, and assembling of the VLT vehicles without the occurrence of any inconveniences or penalties. They also led the Santos VLT Signaling and telecommunication system implementation. Both projects had already been validated by the Brazilian Federal Government.

What did the operation consist of?

• Products’ technical catalogs previous analysis;
• Description/HS Code imported products formatting;
• Ex Tariff (“Ex Tarifário”) and other tax benefits  application;
• Previous analysis in order to create the plea to perform along with the Brazilian Federal  Revenue (BFR);
• Anticipated License Request, before boarding authorization in order to have the Import  Declaration with more than one boarding,  consisted of partial shipments, anticipated delivery of the goods and physical check on the importer’s warehouse (depending on the  Customs Concession);
• After BFR concession, we proceed to the import documentation analysis and consultancy before shipment;
• Import License Registration whenever necessary;
• Import Declaration Registration and further ID rectification, according to de BFR rules;
• Mother ID balance spreadsheet control;
• Personnel following up services throughout the whole BFR Technician Physical Checking;
• Acting with the importer to solve any possible pendency mentioned and pointed out by the  BFR technician;
• Checking the reports issued by the BFR Technician;
• Gathering and collecting each ID rectification (per partial shipment) extra taxes;
• BFR follow up throughout all the phases and operations until the whole process and procedures are concluded.

About the VLT

Already in operation for some years in European cities with excellent results, VLT  has zero emission of pollutants. It interacts with the urban environment in a friendly way, circulating at street level, preserving the historical  heritage and collaborating for the urban revitalization.

The VLT´s operation on Baixada Santista VLT began in April 2015. The modern Operational  Control Center started running in June 2016.  The first stretch of the VLT, 11.1km long, was entirely offered to the population usage on January, 31st, 2017, linking São Vicente  Barreiros Terminal to Santos Porto Station.

The population of the nine municipalities of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista already benefits from the VLT, with less noise pollution, in addition to reducing commuting among cities. In September 2018, VLT was named Gerald Volpe Complex, to honor the councilman who has worked for two decades in São Vicente Municipality.

This VLT import process was developed and concluded by Serpa’s Group and it was the first VLT assembled in Brazil (2015).

Serpa Group – Excellence in Logistics

With four business divisions, Serpa Group is experienced and structured to represent your international logistics demands with end to end solutions. Click here to visit their website and learn more about the company!